30th April, 1953
Australian Trade with Japan 1. When in Sydney last week I had lunch with Ray Bishop, of David Jones Ltd. As you know, he has recently been in Japan where, among other things, he was able to assess the availability of manufactured goods.
2. Quite apart from his interest in Japanese goods as a retail possibility(particularly fine china), Mr Bishop devoted some time to the Japanese woollen textile industry (textiles being his own particular forte).
3. As a result of ‘moving in high places’ in Japan, Mr Bishop was impressed with the opinion often expressed to him that Japan’s imbalance of trade with Australia could not be allowed to continue any longer. Not only was he informed that Japan would certainly need to buy wool from other sources wherever possible, but that her all-over consumption would have to be reduced in the face of declining sterling funds. Due to the high proportion of wool activity for domestic requirements, Mr Bishop thinks that Japan could follow such a course with most adverse effects on her Australian purchases.
4. Mr Bishop believes that Australia’s name is suffering as a result of our failure to view realistically the question of imports of Japanese goods, particularly manufactured goods. He suggests that even token quotas would do much to stem the present adverse criticism now being voiced in Japan. Apparently other countries (New Zealand for one) have liberalised their import policies to permit of limited imports of manufactured goods, and the resulting favourable publicity in Japan has been most marked.
5. Mr Bishop said he had discussed this subject with Sir Charles Lloyd Jones [2] who is anxious to ‘catch the ear of the PM’. Mr Bishop suggested I mention this subject to you informally. He indicated he would welcome the opportunity of expressing himself quite fully if it would be of any value.
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1 The Trade Promotion Section of the Department of Commerce &
Agriculture was located in Flinders St, Melbourne.
2 Chairman of Directors, David Jones Ltd, retailers.
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[AA : A609/1, 555/120/4, i]